South of the border in Oaxaca, Mexico

I've been idle for too long but I have lots to share with you!
Oh where to begin?

Let me first say that Oaxaca is a place full of beautiful people. The city was VERY safe and the place we stayed in was absolutely wonderful. And the very best thing about it all...the plane ride was only 3.5 hours from New Orleans! Gotta love that.

I don't want to bore you with all the details so I think I will stick to the art side of things. Oaxaca is known for their textiles but I didn't take any pictures of any textiles. :( Lo siento.

There was this place that we stumbled upon called La Mano Magica #26 Macedonio Alcala 203, Centro. This place had a variety of high end pieces for the taking and a price. Off to the side we noticed a show going on and I immediately knew the work. It was the work of ceramicist Alfonso Castillo. One of the the great folk artist of Mexico.

Eeeee!!! How exciting!

FAMILIA CASTILLO
Candelabro Ofrenda a mi papa
Alfonso died in 2009. :( This is an Ofrenda for him. It has all his favorite things on it. He liked Mole and there is even some of his art in mini scale up there, i.e. calevera with insects on them. Wow! This piece would cost you about $14,000 USD.

FAMILIA CASTILLO
Candelabro Ofrenda a Frida

EVERY single piece is hand made including those replicas of Frida's paintings. It's amazing how they can replicate Frida's paintings on such a small scale. The paintings were about 1.5"x2". A-MAZING! Now I want to sculpt.

Familia Castillo
Placa con Revolucionario

We did get to meet Gabriel Mendoza. Gabriel was so much fun to talk to. He told me all about the Castillo family and showed me pieces of some of the great masters of Mexico that was in the gallery. Turns out that La Mano Magica is owned by his father Arnulfo Mendoza. Arnulfo Mendoza also happens to be a great folk artist.

I'm glad to be back but I sure do miss Oaxaca. :(

Since I was gone for so long here's a little treat for you.

It's under the Tutorials tab above. There you will find my tutorial for my leather wrap bracelets.

Enjoy!

Namaste
Kalaya

Comments

The Risk to Bloom

It all started with an acorn button and grew from there. In an earlier post I mentioned this button swap blog hop, that I am participating in, and how I was immediately drawn to the acorn button. Every day I would hold it in my hand, feel its essence, exam it, and then put it down. This lasted for about 2 weeks. Then I remembered I had etched an oak tree on to brass when making buttons for my partner Kylie of Lotus Out Loud . And... so begins the journey of creating something with this wonderful acorn button, which only started yesterday. Haha! Etched brass was copper riveted to a piece of oak. Merci beaucoup Papi for finding some oak! I am using what Jesse taught me in his workshop . It was the first time trying his technique. It worked beautifully! The riveted brass was then captured with a piece of pierced copper. Voila! And then the day came when the risk to remain tight in...

Wabi-Sabiness

Hola everyone! New Orleans is hunkering down because we are about to get "Wintry Mix". Whatever that means and in south Louisiana we just do not know how to drive on ice and so great havoc ensues. The city has decided to shut down. I know...it's some crazy stuff down here! Anyways... my mother saw some stacking rings I made a couple of weeks ago and requested a set. So I sat in my studio and thought about texture and a word I wanted to inscribe. I meditated, sitting there in my chair, and spinning myself in circles until I got dizzy and had to stop. Oh wait...I digress. Back to the subject. My mind has been preoccupied with wabi-sabi lately and I thought that this is just befitting. My mom is totally sabi!!! I inscribed the word sabi inside of the silver ring and thus began my journey. Sabi means (in the most simplistic definition) the beauty or serenity that comes with age, when the life of the object and its impe...

Helloooo...Is Anyone Out There?

Yes I know. I have been off the blogger for awhile. I swear I've been working! ;) I have been busy trying to find my own path and I think I have finally found it. Ha! A lot of "I"'s in that sentance. So that being said, what exactly have I been doing? Participated in an Upcycle show at RHINO Gallery. In this show we were to use at least 75% recycled material. This piece was inspired by the 43 students of Ayotzinapa that were taken on September 27, 2014 and presumbly met a violent death at the hands of corrupt officials and a drug gang. . The initials of all 43 students were etched into the .38 caliber casing. I cried after comleting the piece. It was so powerful to me. Ghosts Designed and made earrings. Astro Earrings Sugar Skulls Did a commission. Comission Annnd made one big pendant. Louisiana Opal, sponge coral (grandma's), oxidized silver, 14KY, 22KY Am I having fun yet? ...

Kalaya Steede

Search This Blog